‘We just wanted to tell the truth about what our friendship is like’
Charly Clive’s brain tumour inspired BBC comedy, Britney, writes Danielle de Wolfe
For many, the name “Britney” conjures up images of a multiplatinum selling pop star, red vinyl catsuits and a hard-fought conservatorship battle.
For actress Charly Clive, it was the name given to her golf ball-sized brain tumour.
As initial symptoms sporadically appeared during the summer of 2015, Clive – then 23 and a recent drama school graduate living in New York – dismissed months of missed periods as potential pregnancies. It was only upon her return to the UK the following Christmas that multiple tests revealed a sizable pituitary adenoma – a tumour growing on her pituitary gland which affected her emotions, hormones and vision.
“The MRI had a big brain tumour in it – or rather, my brain did,” says Clive, now 28, with a laugh.
Granted, this jovial reaction might not be what you’d expect from a brain tumour survivor, but then again it’s not every day that a cluster of multiplying cells forms the basis for a sell-out Edinburgh Fringe show or a subsequent BBC Three comedy series.
Following an operation to remove Britney from her brain, Clive underwent radiotherapy and a stint in intensive care, which saw best friend-turned-writing partner Ellen Robertson, also 28, glued to her side.
It was this experience that saw the duo transform the tale into their hit 2016 Fringe show, with Clive describing the cathartic process as “putting together a puzzle”, admitting Robertson’s recollection of events surrounding the diagnoses and subsequent surgery were “a lot more accurate” than her own.
With the stage show now transformed into a BBC Three series starring its creators, Britney charts a decade of friendship – from a shared moment of transformational theatre in Year 8 Drama Club through to the strain the diagnosis puts on their “co-dependent” relationship.
Describing the series as a “celebration of friendship”, Clive says it would be “really counterintuitive” to depict a female relationship where “rivalrous women are pitted against each other” instead of the reality, which is their own “joyful and supportive” experience.
“I think by virtue maybe of drama, a lot of the female friendships we see often have a kind of rivalry at their centre or there’s real competition for a man,” agrees Robertson. “We just really wanted to tell the truth about what our friendship is like, which, you know, has its moments and is also the most loving and central relationship in our lives.”
Part-time best friend, part-time colleague, Clive says the pair are gradually “getting better” at working together.
“I think the danger is always ‘Do you do anything else together or do you just become business associates?’” says the actress. “I’ll always be one of the first people to read something Ellen’s written and vice versa. Because I can formulate my opinion properly when Ellen’s told me hers. It’s very co-dependent.”
● Britney begins on BBC1 tomorrow at 11:35pm and the entire series will be available on BBC iplayer